(1)Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.

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(1)Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Group No: 37. JOB STRESS, WORK-LIFE BALANCE, AND LIFE SATISFACTION AMONG HOTEL EMPLOYEES: PROACTIVE COPING AS A MODERATOR. BY CHUA CHEAP YHONG LAU SHIN YUEN MA KAR LOH TAY LI PENG YAP PEGGY A research project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (HONS). UNIVERSITI TUNKU ADDUL RAHMAN FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AUGUST 2018.

(2) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Copyright @ 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this paper may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior consent of authors.. ii.

(3) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. DECLARATION. We hereby declare that: (1) This undergraduate research project is the end result of our own work and that due acknowledgement has been given in the references to ALL sources of information be they printed, electronic, or personal. (2) No portion of this research project has been submitted in support of any application for any other degree or qualification of this or any other university, or other institutes of learning. (3) Equal contribution has been made by each group member in completing the research project. (4) The word count of this research report is 20249 words.. Name of Student:. Student ID:. 1.. Chua Cheap Yhong. 15ABB06917. 2.. Lau Shin Yuen. 15ABB07296. 3.. Ma Kar Loh. 15ABB07368. 4.. Tay Li Peng. 15ABB07463. 5.. Yap Peggy. 15ABB06836. Date: 17th August 2018. iii. Signature:.

(4) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. First of all, we would like to thank Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) for giving a great opportunity to conduct the research. We have learned a lot from this research project, especially on teamwork, cooperation, and time management. This experience may be useful for our future career. Next, we would like to thanks and express our deeply sincere gratitude to our beloved supervisor, Dr. Ng Lee Peng. She had given a lot of guidance, support, and shares her wise knowledge to us in this research project for about seven months. She never feels impatient about guiding us throughout the entire research project. Furthermore, we would also like to thank all cooperated respondents who helped us to complete the questionnaire. Without their cooperation, we will unable to collect data and conduct our research project. In addition, our friends and family play a vital role too. Without their unconditional love, care, encouragement, and support, we believe we would not able to complete this research project. Last but not least, we would like to thanks and appreciated to every team members for the blood, tears, and sweat of hard work to complete this research together. The project could not be done on time without the teamwork of each team member.. iv.

(5) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. DEDICATION. This research is dedicated to all individuals who have contributed to this research, either directly or indirectly. Throughout carrying this research project, friends and family have been very supportive and kind in providing us guidance and encouragement. Respondents were helpful and spent their valuable time on questionnaires. Besides that, all group members have worked hard and perform their roles effectively. Lastly, we would like to dedicate to our research project supervisor, Dr. Ng Lee Peng for her professional advices, encouragements, efforts and time spent on us.. v.

(6) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Copyright Page.................................................................................................... ii Declaration........................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgement..................................................................................................iv Dedication................................................................................................................v Table of Contents....................................................................................................vi List of Tables.........................................................................................................xii List of Figures.......................................................................................................xiv List of Appendices................................................................................................xv List of Abbreviations.............................................................................................xvi Preface..................................................................................................................xvii Abstract...............................................................................................................xviii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. 1.0. Introduction..................................................................................1. 1.1. Research Background...................................................................1. 1.2. Problem Statement.......................................................................6. 1.3. Research Objectives. 1.4. 1.3.1. General Objective....................................................9. 1.3.2. Specific Objective...................................................9. Research Questions......................................................................9. vi.

(7) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 1.5. Hypotheses of the Study.............................................................10. 1.6. Significance of the Study...........................................................11. 1.7. Chapter Layout...........................................................................12. 1.8. Conclusion..................................................................................13. CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW. 2.0. Introduction................................................................................14. 2.1. Literature Review. 2.2. 2.1.1. Job Stress......................................................................14. 2.1.2. Proactive Coping..........................................................17. 2.1.3. Work-Life Balance.......................................................19. 2.1.4. Life Satisfaction...........................................................21. Review of Relevant Theoretical Models 2.2.1. Model 1........................................................................24. 2.2.2. Model 2........................................................................25. 2.2.3. Model 3........................................................................27. 2.2.4. Model 4........................................................................28. 2.2.5. Model 5........................................................................29. 2.3. Proposed Conceptual Framework..............................................30. 2.4. Hypothesis Analysis 2.4.1. The relationship between job stress and WLB.............31. vii.

(8) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 2.4.2. Moderating effect of proactive coping between job stress and WLB.................................................. 32. 2.4.3. The relationship between WLB and life satisfaction……………………………………...........33. 2.4.4. The relationship between job stress and life satisfaction……………………………………….…..34. 2.5 CHAPTER 3. Conclusion.................................................................................35 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 3.0. Introduction................................................................................36. 3.1. Research Design.........................................................................36. 3.2. Data Collection Methods 3.2.1. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. Primary Data................................................................37. Sampling Design 3.3.1. Target Population.........................................................39. 3.3.2. Sampling Frame and Sampling Location.....................40. 3.3.3. Sampling Elements.......................................................40. 3.3.4. Sampling Technique.....................................................41. 3.3.5. Sampling Size...............................................................41. Research Instrument 3.4.1. Questionnaire........................................................,......42. 3.4.2. Pilot Study....................................................................44. Constructs Measurement (Scale and Operational Definition) viii.

(9) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 3.6. 3.7. 3.5.1. Nominal Scale..............................................................45. 3.5.2. Ordinal Scale................................................................46. 3.5.3. Likert Scale..................................................................46. 3.5.4. Origin of Measure of Construct...................................47. Data Processing 3.6.1. Questionnaire Checking...............................................49. 3.6.2. Data Coding..................................................................49. 3.6.3. Data Editing..................................................................50. 3.6.4. Data Transcribing.........................................................50. Data Analysis 3.7.1. Descriptive Analysis....................................................51. 3.7.2. Scale Measurement......................................................51. 3.7.3. Inferential Analysis......................................................52 3.7.3.1 Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM)...................................52. 3.8 CHAPTER 4. Conclusion..................................................................................54 RESEARCH RESULTS. 4.0. Introduction................................................................................55. 4.1. Descriptive Analysis..................................................................55 4.1.1. Demographic Profile of Respondents...........................55. 4.1.2. Central Tendencies Measurement of Constructs..........59. ix.

(10) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 4.1.2.1 Job Stress........................................................59 4.1.2.2 Proactive Coping............................................61 4.1.2.3 Work-Life Balance.........................................64 4.1.2.4 Life Satisfaction.............................................66 4.1.3 4.2. Descriptive Statistic......................................................68. Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling..................69 4.2.1 Measurement Model (Outer Model).................................70 4.2.2 Structural Model (Inner Model)........................................76 4.2.2.1 Colllinearity Assessment................................76 4.2.2.2. 4.3 CHAPTER 5. Hypothesis Testing…………..……………...77. Conclusion..................................................................................79 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION. 5.0. Introduction................................................................................80. 5.1. Summary of Statistical Analyses................................................80. 5.2. Discussion of Major Findings 5.2.1. Relationship between job stress and WLB...................82. 5.2.2. Moderating effect of proactive coping between job stress and WLB....................................................83. 5.2.3. Relationship between WLB and Life Satisfaction…...84. 5.2.4. Relationship between Job Stress and Life Satisfaction………………………………..….………84. 5.3. Implications of the Study...........................................................85 x.

(11) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 5.4. Limitations of the Study 5.4.1. Respondents Participation............................................86. 5.4.2. Language......................................................................87. 5.4.3. Sample Size..................................................................87. 5.4.4. Limitation of Cross-Sectional Design..........................87. 5.5. Recommendations for Future Study...........................................88. 5.6. Conclusion..................................................................................89. References..............................................................................................................90 Appendices...........................................................................................................113. xi.

(12) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. LIST OF TABLES. Page Table 1.1: Table of Tourist Arrivals and Receipts to Malaysia from 2006 to 2016..........................................................................................................................4 Table 3.1: List of hotel which has been approached and consent given...............38 Table 3.2: Pilot Test Results..................................................................................44 Table 3.3: Operational definition of the key construct..........................................47 Table 3.4: Cronbach‘s Alpha Coefficient Range...................................................51 Table 3.5: Measurement Model Analysis using PLS-SEM...................................53 Table 4.1: Respondents‘ demographic profile for hotel employees.......................55 Table 4.2: Central Tendencies Measurement of Constructs: Job Stress................59 Table 4.3: Central Tendencies Measurement of Constructs: Proactive Coping.....61 Table 4.4: Central Tendencies Measurement of Constructs: Work-life Balance...64 Table 4.5: Central Tendencies Measurement of Constructs: Life Satisfaction...........................................................................................66 Table 4.6: Descriptive statistics of data on job stress, proactive coping, WLB and life satisfaction ................................................................................68 Table 4.7: Measurement Model..............................................................................71 Table 4.8: Cross Loadings......................................................................................73 Table 4.9: Discriminant validity results based on Fornell-Larker criterion...........74 Table 4.10: Collinearity Assessment (Inner VIF values).......................................76. xii.

(13) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Table 4.11: Hypothesis Testing..............................................................................77 Table 4.12: R square and Q square.........................................................................78 Table 5.1: Summary of Hypothesis Results...........................................................82. xiii.

(14) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. LIST OF FIGURES. Page Figure 1.1: Percentage share to GDP 2017…………………………………..……2 Figure 1.2: Real Contribution of Travel and Tourism to GDP for Malaysia from 1995 to 2017………………………………………………………….3 Figure 2.1: Conceptual Model of Ozkan and Ozdevecioğlu (2013)……………..24 Figure 2.2: Conceptual Model of Brough, Timms, O' Driscoll, Kalliath, Siu, Sit and Lo (2014)…………………………………………………….…. 25 Figure 2.3: Transactional Framework of Lazarus and Folkman (1984)……….…27 Figure 2.4: Conceptual Model of Tasdelen-Karckay and Bakalim, O (2017)…. 28 Figure 2.5: Conceptual Framework of Ukil and Ullah (2016)………………...…29 Figure 2.6: Conceptual model of factors influencing life satisfaction…………...30 Figure 3.1: G Power Result………………………………………………….…...42 Figure 3.2: Example of Nominal Scale………………………………………......45 Figure 3.3: Example of Ordinal Scale……………………………………………46 Figure 3.4: Example of Likert Scale……………………………………………..47 Figure 4.1: Indicator Outer Loading among Path coefficients among the variables………………………………………………………......70 Figure 4.2: Path coefficients among the variables after interaction term was introduced into the model………………………………….....…75 Figure 4.3: p-value on the relationships among variables in the path model…….77 xiv.

(15) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. LIST OF APPENDICES. Page Appendix 3.1: Questionnaire………………….. ……………………………….113 Appendix 3.2: Standard Permission Letter…. ………………………………....122 Appendix 3.3: Pilot Test Result………………………………………………...123 Appendix 4.1: Descriptive Analysis…………………………………………….124 Appendix 4.2: Descriptive Statistic ………………..……………….….……….136 Appendix 4.3: Multiple Ways of Conducting Research …………….………….137 Appendix 4.4: Structural Model (Inner Model) ………………..………………139 Appendix 4.5: Inferential Analysis……………………………………………..139. xv.

(16) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. LIST OF ABBRVATION. AVE. Average Variance Extracted. CFA. Confirmatory Factor Analysis. CR. Composite Reliability. DBA. Doctor of Business Administration. GDP. Gross Domestic Product. i.e. id exd (that is). JS. Job Stress. LS. Life Satisfaction. N. Number of Participants. PC. Proactive Coping. PhD. Doctor of Philosophy. PLS. Partial Least Squares. PLS-SEM. Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling. Q2. Predictive Relevance. R_WLB. Reversed coding of Work-Life Balance. SEM. Standard Error of the Mean. SPM. Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia. SPSS. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. STPM. Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia. VIF. Variance Inflation Factor. WFB. Work-Family Balance. WFC. Work-Family Conflict. WLB. Work-Life Balance. xvi.

(17) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. PREFACE. This research is a compulsory subject to be taken by final year students in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) before graduating from university. This study has been conducted for half year by researchers from Bachelor of Business Administration (HONs). Throughout the event, we able to learn the process and skill on conducting research project. The researchers examine ―The relationship between job stress, WLB and life satisfaction among hotel employees: proactive coping as a moderator‖ for this project. This research aims to define the relationship within the variables. Hence, researchers conducted the project in order to understand impact of job stress towards WLB and life satisfaction with proactive coping act as moderator. This research able to improve hotel employees‘ WLB and life satisfaction by knowing the origin cause of job stress. WLB and life satisfaction plays a very vital role in an organization to enhance performance, efficiency and effectiveness. Such an effort able to reduce the risk of employee turnover. Hence, company able to retain good employee. Besides, the results obtained in this research can be beneficial for future study and future researchers to better understanding cause-and-effect relationship.. xvii.

(18) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. ABSTRACT Hotel industry is the one of biggest contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Malaysia and also one of industries that demands a lot of hard work. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between job stress, work-life balance (WLB), and life satisfaction. Specifically, this study sought to determine whether proactive coping have the relationship with job stress and WLB. Besides that, this study can contribute to hotel industry by providing information in order to increase hotel employees working performance more effectively. 120 of questionnaires have been distributed to hotel employees in Malaysia by adopted convenience sampling approach and cross-sectional survey was used to investigate the association between the variables. The data collected was then analyzed using Social Science (SPSS). Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was carried out to test on the relationship among job stress, WLB, life satisfaction and proactive coping. Based on the result, only relationship between WLB and life satisfaction is significant, whereas, there was no significant relationship between the job stress and WLB, proactive coping did not significantly moderate the relationship between job stress and WLB, and job stress has a no significant influence on life satisfaction. Last but not least, this research is concluded with the discussion and limitations of the study. Recommendation for future researchers who work on similar topic was provided in the end of this study as well.. xviii.

(19) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. 1.0 Introduction The objective of the research is to examine the relationship between job stress, WLB and life satisfaction among hotel employees: proactive coping as a moderator. This chapter starts with the research background and problem statement that illustrates the core idea of this research. The purpose and overview of the research develop relevant hypothesis and questions after findings and searching will be discussed in first chapter.. 1.1 Research Background Hotel is as a building where people can stay, in return for payment (Longman Dictionary of American English, 1983). The word of the hotel comes from the French word hôtel (the root word is hôte, which means host‘). Since about 18 th Century, ―hotel‖ became fashionable and replaced the word ―inn‖ which has been used since 14th Century. Hotel industry is the sub-segment of travel and tourism industry (Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2016 World, 2016). Revolution of hotel industry starting from late 90s and the numbers of hotel in Malaysia is expanding continuously (Aminudin, 2013). Hotel industry is one of the main contributors to national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Malaysia (Lahap, Ramli, Said, Radzi, & Zain, 2016). According to Figure 1.1, service sector in Malaysia was contributed around 54 percent to GDP of the country in year 2017. By the way, Figure 1.2 showed the positive linkage between tourism and GDP of Malaysia. The increase number of tourist‘s arrival in the country will contribute to greater economic growth too. The increase in receipt from tourist will further spur the economic growth of the nation. Malaysia was ranked at top four among the Asia Page 1 of 140.

(20) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Pacific countries (World Tourism Organization, 2016) from the list of top 25 most visited in 2016 and ranked at 11th in the list of international tourist arrivals features only one Asian destination in 2015 (World Tourism Organization, 2016).. Figure 1.1: Percentage Share to GDP 2017. Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal. Page 2 of 140.

(21) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Figure 1.2: Real Contribution of Travel and Tourism to GDP for Malaysia from 1995 to 2017. Source: https://knoema.com/atlas/Malaysia/topics/Tourism/Travel-and-TourismTotal-Contribution-to-GDP/Contribution-of-travel-and-tourism-to-GDP-growth Malaysian government organized a national tourism campaign every year in order to promoting the attractiveness of Malaysia as a MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Conventions and Exhibitions) destination in South East Asian region. Government has allocated RM400 million under Budget 2017 to enhance the tourism facilities ("Emphasis on promoting, improving tourism facilities under Budget 2017", 2018). Increase the demand of hotels and supply of hotels due to increasing number of incoming tourists. Today, there have total 2361 of hotels in Malaysia (Idris, 2018) and the number of hotels will expect an increase in the following years because this industry seems to a promising business in this sector.. Page 3 of 140.

(22) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Table 1.1: Table of Tourist Arrivals and Receipts to Malaysia from 2006 to 2016. Source:. Malaysia. Tourism. Statistics. in. Brief.. (n.d.).. Retrieved. from. https://www.tourism.gov.my/statistics Local hotels need to improve their quality in order to strive for the success among the competitors. Hotel employees play a critical role in successful hotel operations (Enz & Siguaw, 2000) because they often confront the customers and solve a number of problems. Most of the hotel employees need to deal with customers daily, where this type of interaction force the employees to come out with a quick response in the time they provide the pleasant service (Sampson & Akyeampong, 2014). In addition, many frontline hotel employees felt stress because of job demands which are the psychological stressors related to excessive work and inflexible working hours. These job demands cause the employees lack of time for their family and have a lower quality of life (Ariza-Montes, Arjona-Fuentes, Han & Law, 2018).. Page 4 of 140.

(23) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 4 stars and 5 stars hotels have no routine holiday and required to work 7 days per week and 24 hours per day (Bustamam, Teng, & Abdullah, 2014). In the luxury hotels, employees have to provide professional services which could generate a mental and physical stress towards the employees. Employees are the key determinants of service quality,. image, income and productivity of an. organization (Kusluvan, Kusluvan, Ilhan, & Buyruk, 2010). They carry out their task in different departments like customer service, food and beverage, housekeeping, and others which have a high frequency of face to face interaction with their customer. In other words, they need to able handle the issues faced by them daily in a very quick response to meet the expectation of customers. Due to these, some of the employees might fell that they have a high stress level in their position (Bharwani & Butt, 2012). Stress can directly or indirectly affect emotional exhaustion, satisfaction, and turnover. Job stress is a wherever and all aspect of the phenomenon (Lazarus, 1993). Job stress can be a particular issue in customer-oriented fields and occurs dissonance among employees due to employees often experience conflict demands of the company, consumers, and supervisors (Ruyter, Wetzels, & Feinberg, 2001). Moreover, it is an issue where managers have to face because it impacts the performance of all levels of employees (Ross, 1995). Other than that, high level of job stress impact the productivity of the employees and there will be a huge amount of health care cost need to bear by the employers (Krone, Tabacchi, & Farber, 1989). Job stress can be reduced when there is a good relationship between employers and employees (Khodarahimi, Intan, & Norzarina,. 2012). The employers are concerned about the issues of employees stress nowadays. According to Landsbergis, Cahill, and Schnall (1999), imbalance between demands and resources of the job might increase the work-family conflict of an individual which impact WLB negatively. The integration between family and job of an individual will be influenced by the quality of the personal and work-life (Lockwood, 2003). As result, work-life programmes are necessary to be conducted because of it able to help the employees who face the problem in. Page 5 of 140.

(24) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. balancing themselves in their job and personal life. (Lockwood, 2003; Landauer, 1997). In today‘s complex business environment, organization and society are filled with different responsibilities and commitment. Therefore, WLB is a critical issue at the workplace. WLB is represented as a state of equilibrium. It stated that there should have a balance between an individual‘s life and job. When the employees are feeling stressful, they might propose to the organization to establish WLB in order to reduce their stress level and can get find back the balance between their work and family. WLB is vital because it could influence employees‘ attitude when performing their job in the organization (Guest, 2002). In other words, employees which able to perform their task are the one that find the balance between their work and non-work domains (Virick, Lilly, & Casper, 2007). Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin (1985) explained life satisfaction as subjective well-being that comprises life beyond work. Job satisfaction is described as the degree of the overall expectation of an individual match with the actually what they perceived from their jobs (Locke, 1969). Although job satisfaction and life satisfaction is different in definition, however, both are essential to the development of positive employees behaviors and attitudes (Ernst Kossek & Ozeki, 1998). Work and life satisfaction depends on several factors which are likely to interact with each other (Benz & Frey, 2008). Suldo and Huebner (2004) stated that positive life satisfaction can enhance individual resilience and protect against adverse life experiences. Moreover, higher life satisfaction could improve an individual‘s work, income and even health condition (Lau, Tsui, Wong & Yang, 2010). Employees with higher life satisfaction normally gain a more supportive social relationship and social benefits and have fewer lifestyle problems such as drug addiction (Pavot & Diener, 2008).. 1.2 Problem Statement As part of the important segment of the hospitality sector, the productivity of the hotel depends on the human resource factors (AlBattat & Som, 2013). The scope Page 6 of 140.

(25) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. of work includes interaction with the customer, long working hours, repetitive work, high workspace and problems with coordination of work (Hannerz, Tüchsen, & Kristensen, 2002). This job stress creates a demand of an individual to make the decision to get a balance between work life and family (Wong & Ko, 2009). However, people find that it was difficult to work under different roles in the same time, for example, a parent in home or manager in the department which cause them to feel stress (Grandey & Cropanzano, 1999). As a result, when the employees start to feel that their life is not more balanced due to the job, it will influence them to quit the current job. People involved in service industry must have positive emotion because they have to deal with their guests who expect them to provide good quality of service in order to meet customer‘s expectation (Hofmann & Stokburger-Sauer, 2017). According to Dann (1990), frontline work in the hotels which have a high frequency of face to face interaction with the customers are exposed to high stress which required them to respond immediately. Such scenario is most prevalent in the luxury hotels, employees need to deliver their professional knowledge when dealing with the customers. Customers‘ expectation becomes high when enjoying the service in the luxury hotel because they want to get the valuable service from what they paid. Therefore, there will be a relatively high job stress for the employees work in the luxury hotel as compare to other types of hotels. Sampson and Akyeampong (2014) proved that individuals who work in the hospitality industry show a sign of stress and overload because of the high pressure and demand that placed by the organization. Lee and Wang (2002) stated that an individual‘s workload and responsibility give rise to high occupational stress. Job stress had been linked to the negative effects of the employees‘ well-being and psychological in many occupations like academics which is not merely in the hotel industry (Kinman & Jones, 2003; Bell, Rajendran & Theiler, 2012). High work-life conflict or low WLB reduced job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment and productivity, higher absenteeism and intention to quit (Hobson, Delunas & Kesic, 2001; Bell et al., 2012). Razak, Yusof, Azidin, Latif, & Ismail (2014) stated that people in high-stress condition will have certain. Page 7 of 140.

(26) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. negative consequences, however, if the stress can be handled effectively then the stress can result in better performance. Bell et al. (2012) also stated that high stress will lead to ill-being when the individual didn‘t use or choose the suitable coping strategy to cope with the stress. According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984) (as cited in Rotondo, Carlson & Kincaid, 2003), the stress can be eliminated through effective coping. The stressors on strain can be moderated by coping strategy in the case where the individual able to perceives the positive change in stressors and environment. The styles of coping might change when an individual face different problems or stress level. When situations faced by the individual change frequently, help-seeking and problem-focused styles such as direct action coping styles will be more effective (Rotondo et al., 2003). Past researches have proved that WLB has a positive impact on job involvement and life satisfaction (Omran, 2016; Haar, Russo, Suñe, & Ollier-Malaterre, 2014). Haar et al. (2014) mentioned that WLB has a vital role in explaining job and work-life enrichment which bring advantages to life satisfaction of the individual. There are other researches carried out in hospitality industry of Malaysia. In the study of AlBattat and Som (2013), they seek for the impacts of demographic factors, job stress, job satisfaction and working environment on employee satisfaction in Malaysia hospitality industry and concluded that job dissatisfaction will increase employee turnover rate. Turnover crises can be reduce by increase salary and improve the working environment whereas low salaries, poor training and unacceptable working conditions could lead to higher turnover rate (AlBattat, Som, & Helalat, 2014). Research carried out by Abdullah, Karim, Patah, Zahari, Nair, and Jusoff (2009) in hotel industry Klang Valley, Malaysia found out the factor influence the employee satisfaction and loyalty and conclude that the increase of employee satisfaction could increase the participation of them in their daily tasks. Rubel, Kee, and Rimi (2017) found out between role stressors and turnover intention, work-family conflict (WFC) act as a significant mediator. Despite a number of studies highlighted the relationship between WLB and life satisfaction (Omran, 2016; Haar et al., 2014) and stress and WLB (Razak et al.,. Page 8 of 140.

(27) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 2014; Bell et al., 2012), limited studies were found to examine the inter-relationships among job stress, WLB and life satisfaction. Therefore, this research intends to fill the gaps by look into the indirect influence of WLB in the relationship between job stress and life satisfaction. Besides, this research will evaluate the moderating effect of proactive coping strategy between job stress and work-life balance among employees in the hotel industry.. 1.3 Research Objectives 1.3.1 General Objective The main objective for the study is to determine the relationship among job stress, WLB and life satisfaction and proactive coping with stress as a moderator.. 1.3.2 Specific Objective i. To determine the influence of job stress on WLB.. ii. To determine the moderating effect of proactive coping on the relationship between job stress and WLB.. iii. To determine the influence of WLB on life satisfaction.. iv. To determine the influence of job stress on life satisfaction.. 1.4 Research Questions Research questions were developed regarding about the problem statement in order to examine the issues. i.. To what extent is the influence of job stress to WLB of employees in the hotel industry?. Page 9 of 140.

(28) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. ii.. Does proactive coping moderate the relationship between job stress and WLB?. iii.. To what extent is the influence of WLB to life satisfaction of employees in the hotel industry?. iv.. To what extent is the influence of job stress to life satisfaction of employees in the hotel industry?. 1.5 Hypothesis of the Study Hypotheses were confirmed as the result of researchers determined the independent, dependent variables and research questions.. Hypothesis 1 H0: Job stress does not have a significant influence on WLB. H1: Job stress has a significant influence on WLB.. Hypothesis 2 H0: Proactive coping does not moderate the relationship between job stress and WLB. H1: Proactive coping moderate the relationship between job stress and WLB.. Hypothesis 3 H0: WLB does not have a significant influence on life satisfaction. H1: WLB has a significant influence on life satisfaction.. Page 10 of 140.

(29) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Hypothesis 4 H0: Job stress does not have a significant influence on life satisfaction. H1: Job stress has a significant influence on life satisfaction.. 1.6 Significance of study Hotel industry is the most suitable environment for studying the job stress in Malaysia because employees in hotel are always at high risk of job stress. Hotel industry is often characterized by high rates of overwhelming workload, pressure and demands in a complex and changeable environment (Zhao, Ghiselli, Law & Ma, 2016). This research represents the first attempt to investigate the relationship among job stress, WLB and life satisfaction as well as the moderating effects of proactive coping in hotel industry. Job stress, WLB and proactive coping play a vital role in enhancing worker‘s life satisfaction in hotel industry. Further, this study would develop and examining whether there are significant differences in term of coping strategies on stress. One of the most important ways to achieve organization efficiency is the identification of the causes of stress and ways to cope with it. If the person able to use the correct coping strategy, in return contribute to reduce job stress. This study would be beneficial to the hotel employers as the relevant information about the issues mention above will create level of awareness and help the employers to come out with the solution to solve the problems faced by employees in hotel industry. The research also provides an idea of the influence of the job stressors to the employees. Better WLB creates more satisfied employees and when employees experience more life satisfaction, they tend to perform better. Since there are only few studies undertaken to investigate the vital of those mentioned variables, the outcome of this study will give insights for management and employees to have a better understanding of the hotel industry.. Page 11 of 140.

(30) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 1.7 Chapter Layout The entire study consists of five chapters. These five chapters will be focusing on their respective areas.. Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter one consists of the general view of job stress, WLB, and life satisfaction among hotel employees. It contains the background of the research, problem statement, research objectives, research questions, and hypotheses of the study and significance of the study.. Chapter 2: Literature Review For this chapter, it consists the reviews of secondary sources of data done on this topic. Further, the conceptual framework provides the network of relationships among the independents variables and dependents variable. This chapter ends with hypotheses development which formulated the relationships among variables.. Chapter 3: Research Methodology The discussion of research methodology will be clarify in this chapter. It contains of data collection methods, research design, sampling design, measurement scales, and methods of data analysis.. Chapter 4: Research Results Chapter four will shows the data and analyze of the results which are relate to the research questions and hypotheses. Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) 3.0 software is used to analyze research result. Page 12 of 140.

(31) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion The last chapter includes the summary of research and provides the results discussed in previous chapter. In addition, it also contains discussions of major findings, implications of study, limitations of study and recommendations for future research.. 1.8 Conclusion In a nutshell, research background outlines the job stress, life satisfaction and work-life balance among hostel employees in Malaysia. Moreover, the problem statement highlights the gap and limitation of the studies in the relevant areas. This chapter had described the research objectives, problem statement, and hypotheses of the study which provide guidance for the directions of the study. Besides, significance of study will be used by the following chapter as well. The information that gathers will serve as a guideline for this research and the variables will be discussed further in the next chapter.. Page 13 of 140.

(32) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. 2.0 Introduction For chapter two, it reviewed the relationship among job stress, WLB and life satisfaction with proactive coping as a moderator among employees in the hotel industry. Moreover, the theoretical models and hypothesis development related to research ideas, conceptual frameworks and conclusions are provided.. 2.1 Literature Review. 2.1.1 Job Stress Over the years, stress was defined in various ways. Basically, stress was explained as the pressure from the surrounding environment, then as the strain with an individual. Stress was referred to a situation where an individual is under pressure and does not have enough ability to cope with it (Tekeste & Nekzada, 2014). According to Michie (2002), a sign of stress can be observed through individual‘s behavior, particularly in behavioral changes. Stress typically occur when the situations are unexpected, unforeseen, uncertain, ambiguous or abnormal, or involved dispute or loss. Stress related to job occurs when the employee‘s job requirements are not in match with employee capacity, resources, and needs. Job stress is the most commonly faced by many organizations‘ employees no matter in which industry. Based on Wickramasinghe (2012), job stress is an adverse reaction when the individual experienced too much pressure or demands at work. Nevertheless, job stress can have a positive impact in the workplace as it forces employees to make full use of their capabilities (Jarinto, 2011). However, negative stress is more common and can adversely affect employees‘ health and performance (Sohail & Rehman, 2015). In Johanson, Youn and Woods (2010)‘s research, the researchers measure the amount Page 14 of 140.

(33) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. of stress that perceived by hotel leaders and results demonstrated that more than half of the managers‘ stress levels would lead to stress-related illness. Job stress can undermine the individuals and organizations goals (Michie, 2002). Cooper, Rout and Faragher (1989) believed that job stress poses a serious threat to business. Job stress leads to behavioral changes that eventually reduce the cooperation among employees (Sohail & Rehman, 2015). Job stress is an important concept for every employee and every organization as excessive stress can interfere with employee productivity and performance. High job stress among employees lead to negative consequences, such as declining health condition, lack of motivation, low productivity and low quality of life. Job stress is highly personalized phenomena that have big difference even under the same circumstances for different reasons. As job stress have significant negative impacts on business outcomes, every organization should pay attention to the way to reduce job stress. Job stress can happen at any time. However, it can be controlled by the situation that employees have a good relationship with colleagues and get support from supervisors (Razak et al., 2014). The way to reduce employees‘ job stress, increase job satisfaction and performance is to enhance the working environment by providing strong support from supervisors (Yang, Shen, Zhu, Liu, Deng, Chen & See, 2015). In addition, support from colleagues and superiors build trust that motivates employees to openly communicate for constructive criticisms and encouraging words to each other. Having good relationships at work are usually successful and productive as it encourages every employee work to shoulder the burden of each other (Yang et al., 2015). Collins (2007) emphasizes that importance of healthy or unhealthy coping strategies, as well as in various forms of support in the working environment, as collective support is associated with individual differences. Job stress is the main concern among organization (Jamal & Baba, 1992). Many studies involve measuring stress factors such as job requirement, time pressure, unclear role and nervous under construct ―stress‖. For example, Parker and Decotiis. Page 15 of 140.

(34) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. (1983) viewed time pressure and tension as two dimensions of job stress. According to their research results, stress is the most relevant results of the anxiety. Most people see stress as a response to unpleasant events. Jamal and Baba (1992) determine the anxiety as the main effect of work-related stress as well. In Central Florida, Shani and Pizam (2009) had carried out a study of depression among hotel employees. According to the result, burnout and job stress have the most significant influence on work-related depression. Therefore, effective proactive coping on stress is used due to its effect and increasing knowledge on work-related stress (Shani & Pizam, 2009). Other than that, job stress can be caused by role ambiguity and role conflict which appear from the working environment and personal characteristics (Nazri & Ghee, 2015). Role conflict is conceptual differences between the subordinates and supervisors on the tasks and activities required for the workplace. On the other hand, role ambiguity occurs when the employees are not clear or feel uncertain when the role expectations are ambiguous due to lack of information (Nazri & Ghee, 2015). In the study of Ryan, Ma and Ku (2009), role ambiguity showed a positive relationship with WFC. The result indicated that role ambiguity increases the level of WFC which was the strongest contributor to WFC. Heavy workload is another factor that affects the employees‘ job stress. Work overload occurs when organization demand is more than the employee‘s capacity (Othman, Lamin & Othman, 2014). The employee who suffers from heavy workload may find their work activities are extremely stressful and lack of time to relax. Heavy workload causes employees to spend lesser time with their family. This clearly shows that employees unable to achieve WLB if they work for more hours. Therefore, employees need to own free time to balance their work and life (Mukhtar, 2012). The employers need to construct policies that would reduce workload of the employee without influencing the productivity of organization in order to achieve WLB (Razak et al., 2014). Job stress has become a general issue for employees regardless of the industry they are involved in. WLB and stress go hand in hand with job stress as both are in. Page 16 of 140.

(35) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. parallel. What important in this regard is the important employee balance of their lives and the effectiveness and practices that conducted by the organization that helps support them in achieving this goal. According to Meenakshi and Bhuvaneshwari (2013), companies employ high quality compensation and benefits packages for their employees and may see as pioneers in the WLB advocacy. When organization more focused on work and WLB related programs, which may help to erase workplace stress and conflict between work-life.. 2.1.2 Proactive Coping Coping is defined as thoughts and behaviors that people use to deal with the internal and external of circumstances that are appraised as stressful (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). According to Lazarus (1999), the previous literature related to stress and coping are more focusing on the threats and challenges that faced by an individual in their daily life and their cognitive, affective and behavioral responses to those threats and challenges. Besides, as Endler and Parker (1994) stated that the published general psychological literature related to coping over the last two decades was reflects the importance of coping as a moderating variable between a stressor and strain. However, the majority of literature studies have focused on coping with past or present event (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004) as known as reactive coping styles (Greenglass & Fiksenbaum, 2009). Lazarus and Folkman‘s (1984) introduced a coping model for stress which include two major coping strategies, namely problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. These coping strategies have led to the emergence of additional coping theories, for example proactive coping (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997) and avoidance-focused coping (Endler & Parker, 1994). Coping strategy like reactive coping reduce the stress level after the stressful situation happened (Keeton, 2016) whereas proactive coping help the individual to reduce the stress level before stressors occurs (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997).. Page 17 of 140.

(36) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. An individual manage the internal and external demands of stressful event by using a set of behavioral and cognitive strategies is known as proactive coping strategy (Ding, Yang, Zhang, Qiu, He & Sui, 2015). Individual needs to change the way of handle stress circumstances which they can‘t influence. This coping style considers as an effective proactive method for teachers to cope with their stress (Verešová, & Malá, 2012). Furthermore, individual implemented strategies by anticipating the opportunities and problems in far future, and carry out a future-oriented plans when face obstacles (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997). It is important for the employees to be able to use appropriate coping strategy to manage negative emotions and resolve problems because decreased performance is likely to come with negative repercussions. The adoption of proactive coping strategies in the workplace has been found to be effective in reducing work-related stress (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997). Other than that, proactive coping has been shown beneficial to personal growth, goal fulfillment and quality of life (Stiglbauer & Batinic, 2015; Schwarzer & Taubert, 2002). It enables the individual to be prepare for face some potential challenges and threat in the future (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997). Therefore, proactive coping strategy enables the employees to find a better solution to solve the workplace stressors in order to create a healthier working environment. In proactive coping, people want to improve their quality of life and build up the resources that assure the quality and progress of operating. In order to achieve the objective, they proactively create a better working conditions which able to increase the performance levels of themselves. Proactive coping acts as a predictor of many positive behavioral outcomes including functional independence, job burnout, life satisfaction, depression, professional efficacy, and psychological well-being (Uskul & Greenglass, 2005; Greenglass, Marques & Behl, 2005). In addition, proactive coping has often been shown to positive effect to individuals‘ well-being (Gan, Yang, Zhou, & Zhang, 2007), and lower levels of depression (Greenglass, Fiksenbaum, & Eaton, 2006). Proactive coping also act as the moderator in reducing the impact of stressor (role ambiguity, role conflict, heavy work-load) and strain (Yip, Rowlinson & Siu, 2008; Tidd & Friedman, 2002). Moreover, proactive coping was found to be associated with greater job Page 18 of 140.

(37) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. satisfaction in nurses (Welbourne, Eggerth, Hartley, Andrew, & Sanchez, 2007). Furthermore, proactive coping have moderating effect between job insecurity and strain, by either buffering or enhancing that relation (Bolino, Valcea, & Harvey, 2010). 2.1.3 Work-Life Balance In recent years, due to the importance of work and family life and improvement in the living standards, people start to increase their needs on themselves, on work and on family (Tasdelen-Karckay & Bakalım, 2017). People always want to find a balance between work and life. David, Chandran, & Sathishkumar (2001) defined work and life separately; work is being defined as the activity or effort that we put to accomplish something whereas they defined life is a collection of happiness, sadness, celebrations, and peacefulness. David et al. (2001) stated that WLB is self-defined, self-determined state of well-being. Most of the researchers agreed with the statement that WLB is important for individual‘s well-being, satisfaction, high self-esteem, and sense of harmony as the indicators of a successful balance between work and family roles (Clarke, Koch, & Hill, 2004). Agha, Azmi, and Irfan (2017) defined WLB as the way that an individual seeks for the suitable balance and their feeling of satisfaction between the aspect of work and life. Some of the researchers conceptualize WLB as a person‘s perceptions of how well an individual can balance their life roles (Frone, 2003; Greenhaus & Allen, 2011). The expectation of WLB will be different as there are differences of needs perceived by the individual. WLB is a state of equilibrium in which the person‘s demand on the job and also their lives are equal. The relationship between work and personal life is bidirectional (Hill, Hawkins, Ferris, & Weitzman, 2001). An appropriate balancing between employees‘ work and life can help the organization to gain better outcomes. As mention by Kim (2014), he stated that WLB can help to increase the employees‘ commitment and also productivity. Therefore, when the people start to put more concern about their development at work, dealing with. Page 19 of 140.

(38) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. their clients, the daily working pressure gain by the employees might create a problem of work-life imbalance. The study that conducted by Guest (2002) demonstrated that an individual advance in his or her careers, they will take more time to work and become dissatisfied with their WLB. Agha et al. (2017) state that imbalance between work and life result to various negative consequence to employees, such as increase of the individual‘s stress level, competition in the market and insecurities in the workplace. WLB can be grouped as components approach to WLB and overall appraisal approach to WLB (Grzywacz & Carlson, 2007). An overall appraisal is concerning about the individual perception and evaluation on their own life situation. Clarke et al. (2004) defined WLB as the global assessment that work and family demands can be fulfill by the resources of work and family effectively. For the components approach to WLB, there are multiples aspects in defining what is mean by balance. Greenhaus, Collins & Shaw (2003) state that WLB involves satisfaction balance, time balance, and involvement balance. Frone (2003) stated that WLB included WFC and work-family facilitation. He categorized balance into two level which consist of high-levels of inter-role facilitation and low levels of inter-role conflict. The bidirectional relationship of non-work life or family life and work life can create a synergy which both of them can enhance the performance of each other. He proposes a four-fold taxonomy to explain the bidirectional relationship of work and family, which includes family-to-work enhancement, work-to-family enhancement, family-to-work conflict, and work-to-family conflict (Frone, 2003 as cited in Ong & Jeyaraj, 2014) Consistent with Brough, Timms, O'Driscoll, Kalliath, Siu, Sit and Lo‘s (2014) definition, this research viewed WLB as personal subjective evaluation between non-work and work activities and life. Their study builds upon Kalliath and Brough‘s (2008) which stated that WLB is the perception of an individual on non-work and work activities which compatible and promotes development that suit for a person‘s existing life satisfaction.. Page 20 of 140.

(39) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 2.1.4 Life Satisfaction At the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, the concept of Life Satisfaction was introduced as a meaning of offering people with good life and affect the growth of Welfare State. During the 20th Century, scholars and researchers were trying to find an appropriate definition of Life Satisfaction, which involve the measurement and components of good life. By the year of 1960s, the term Quality of Life (QOL) has emerged. However, criteria of welfare and satisfaction in traditional economic criteria had been replaced by social indicators by mid of 1980s proclaim that money cannot buy happiness. The idea was indicating that there is more to human‘s lifestyle than material gratification (Prasoon & Chaturvedi, 2016). Veenhoven (1996) stated that life satisfaction is the degree of an individual to examine the overall quality of his or her life. Due to critical discussion about the validity of survey questions, life satisfaction became a popular topic in survey research during 1960‘s. According to Veenhoven (1996), by using questionnaires or standard interviews, life satisfaction may be measured accurately. Generally, prediction of an individual‘s life satisfaction through his peers are often inaccurate. Since life satisfaction cannot be measured by overt behavior, we have to read off inner consciousness through questioning. Data on life satisfaction can be obtained through clinical interview, surveys, and life-review questionnaires. Moreover, the questions that related to one‘s life satisfaction can be texted in different ways; by means of multiple or single items, and directly or indirectly (Veenhoven, 1996). Furthermore, there are many explanations and definitions about life satisfaction. According to Neugarten, Havighurst and Tobin (1961) defined life satisfaction as ―an operational definition of successful aging.‖ Next, Sumner (1996) defined life satisfaction as an assessment of the condition of life in terms of standards or expectations. Andrew and Withey (1974) claimed that life satisfaction indicates an ideal goal of individual‘s experience. Life satisfaction considers as feelings and attitudes towards human‘s life at a given time which range from negative to positive. The researchers, Sousa and Lyubomirsky (2001) suggested that an. Page 21 of 140.

(40) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. individual‘s judgment on life satisfaction is significantly affected by his personality. Personality variables include psychological resilience, empathy, internal locus of control, assertiveness, openness to experience and extraversion are all related to life satisfaction (Sousa & Lyubomirsky, 2001). Generally, it is a person‘s emotional interaction towards life interpreted as out of work time, job and leisure time (Sung-Mook & Giannakopoulos, 1994). According to Veenhoven, Ehrhardt, Ho, & de Vries (1993), the synonyms of life satisfaction are ‗subjective well-being‘ and ‗happiness‘. One of the merits of using life satisfaction but not ‗happiness‘ is because it stresses the subjective character of the concept. Besides, life satisfaction also explained as an entire evaluation of life. It is not only referred to current feelings or specific psychosomatic symptoms. Therefore, it is more suitable to use the term life satisfaction than the label of ‗subjective well-being‘ (Veenhoven et al., 1993). Diener, Suh, Lucas, and Smith (1999) stated that interest to change an individual life satisfaction with past, future, and other significant views of life are falling under life satisfaction. It considered as an indicators of quality of life along with physical and psychological health. Life satisfaction is an evaluation of overall conditions as compared with a person‘s aspiration to his or her actual achievement (Cribb, 2000 as cited in Prasoon & Chaturvedi, 2016). On the other hand, according to Khaw and Kern (2014), quality of life is related to living condition which included health, food, shelter and so on. In contrast, life satisfaction can be explained as a state of emotion, such as sadness or happiness. Life satisfaction can also be defined with the theory by using PERMA model which introduced by Martin Seligman (Seligman, 2011). The principle of life satisfaction indicates an overall appraisal of individual‘s life. Therefore, ‗exciting‘ life does not mean that it is ‗satisfying‘. There are too many of excitement in our lives and less of other qualities. An overall assessment of life has to include every relevant criterion of a person such as, how well expectations are likely to be satisfied and how good one feels. Life satisfaction is not an evaluation of a specific area of life, but it meant to evaluate life-as-a-whole.. Page 22 of 140.

(41) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Enjoyment and happiness of work will increase appreciation of life but does not compose it. According to Veenhoven (1996) claimed that there are four types of satisfaction which are satisfaction with social contacts, satisfaction with finances, satisfaction with housing, and global life satisfaction. Out of these four kinds of satisfaction, only ‗global life satisfaction‘ fulfils the definition of life satisfaction while the others are considered as ‗domain satisfactions‘ (Veenhoven, 1996). Several researches (e.g. Brough et al., 2014; Carlson, Grzywacz, & Zivnuska, 2009; Greenhaus et al., 2003; Ferguson, Carlson, Zivnuska, & Whitten, 2012; Haar, 2013; Lunau, Bambra, Eikemo, van der Wel, & Dragano, 2014) found that people who perceive greater WLB are more satisfied with their lives and have better psychological and physical health. For the person that play their role which is salient to them, they will be more satisfied with their current lifestyle (Greenhaus et al., 2003). Moreover, judgments of life satisfaction are based on the comparison of an individual‘s circumstances with an appropriate standard which each person sets for him or herself. Although energy, health and wealth may be desirable, some individuals may have different values toward them (Diener et al., 1985).. Page 23 of 140.

(42) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 2.2 Review of Relevant Theoretical Model. 2.2.1 Model 1: The effects of occupational stress on burnout and life satisfaction: A study in accountants Figure 2.1: Conceptual Model of Ozkan and Ozdevecioğlu (2013). Life Satisfaction Burnout Emotional Exhaustion. Occupational Stress. Loss of Personal Accomplishment. Depersonalization. Source: Ozkan and Ozdevecioğlu (2013). The effects of occupational stress on burnout and life satisfaction: A study in accountants. Quality & Quantity, 47(5), 2785-2798. The model above shows the effect of occupational stress on life satisfaction and burnout in accountants. This research examined on three dimensions of burnout which included depersonalization, lack of personal accomplishment, and emotional exhaustion. To conduct this study, certain hypothesis were developed based on the model. To carry out the research, the data were obtained from the survey responses of 217 accountants. The questionnaire was distributed by using convenience sampling. Data of the research was gathered through internet in the form of mailed questionnaire form. There are 66.7% of response from accountants that shows the interest on that subject.. Page 24 of 140.

(43) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. From the result, occupational stress showed a positive effect on the three dimensions of burnout listed above while has a negative effect on life satisfaction. Overall, the stress level is vital in terms of life satisfaction as it negatively affects the relationship while stress shows a meaningful and positive impact on the burnout levels of individuals. Occupational stress is an important factor in identifying life satisfaction and burnout levels of employees. The research of Ozkan and Ozdevecioğlu (2013) showed that increase in job stress resulted to the reduction of life satisfaction among employees. Hence, job stress and life satisfaction have a direct negative relationship.. 2.2.2 Model 2: Work–life balance: a longitudinal evaluation of a new measure across Australia and New Zealand workers Figure 2.2: Conceptual Model of Brough et al. (2014). Family Satisfaction. Job Demands. Psychological Strain. WLB Turnover Intentions Job Satisfaction. Source: Brough et al. (2014). Work–life balance: a longitudinal evaluation of a new measure across Australia and New Zealand workers. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(19), 2724-2744.. Page 25 of 140.

(44) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. Brough et al. (2014) examine the relationship between job demands, psychological strain, turnover intentions, job satisfaction and family satisfaction which WLB acts as a mediator. Brough et al. (2014) had conducted two studies. In the first study, the respondents had been divided into four independent samples (n): Australia 1 with n=5094, New Zealand with n=718, Australia 2 with n=704 and Australia with n=467. WLB showed a high level of interior reliability for the four independent samples. WLB survey also generated desirable goodness-of-fit in those samples. As a conclusion, psychometric structure of the latest WLB survey was indicated being accepted. Second study tested the relationship of WLB measure with job demands, psychological strain, turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and family satisfaction. The result showed that WLB has a positive relationship with job satisfaction and family satisfaction whereas has a negative relationship with psychological strain and turnover intention. Their study also proved that WLB was significantly related to turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and psychological strain but no significant relationship was found between WLB and family satisfaction. The study involves a large sample size which involves 5094 respondents from Australia and 718 respondents from New Zealand. Therefore, the result of the study was credible.. Page 26 of 140.

(45) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 2.2.3 Model 3: The moderating effect of proactive coping between job stress and WLB.. Figure 2.3: Transactional Framework of Lazarus and Folkman (1984). Coping Strain. Stressor. Source: Lazarus and Folkman (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. New Springer Publishing. According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984), the basic assumption of a transactional framework model is when the demands of the situation exceed an individual‘s coping ability, the mental stress will occur. It means that the model focused on the relationship between an individual and environment, effective coping between environmental demands and the person‘s available resources. Coping can functions as a moderator when the relationship between stressor and stress reaction or, more specifically when it links the stressors to the stress reaction (Frese, 1986). Study of Baron and Kenny (1986) indicated a moderator able to change the strength or direction of the relation between the variables. It showed that coping strategies have moderating effect on the relationship between the stressor and its strain. Besides, the researchers concluded that the causes of job stress such as role ambiguity, role conflict, heavy work-load, and poor WLB as a form of stressor, are relevant stress reaction (i.e. strain), thus coping strategies are perhaps having a moderating effect on the relationship between job stress and WLB.. Page 27 of 140.

(46) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. 2.2.4 Model 4: The mediating effect of WLB on the relationship between work-family conflict and life satisfaction. Figure 2.4: Conceptual Model of Tasdelen-Karckay and Bakalim, O (2017). Work-Family Conflict WLB. Life Satisfaction. Family-Work Conflict. Source: Taşdelen-Karçkay, A., and Bakalım, O. (2017). Tasdelen-Karckay and Bakalim (2017) investigated the relationship between work-family conflict, family-work conflict and life satisfaction, which WLB acts as a mediator. Tasdelen-Karckay and Bakalim (2017) had conducted two studies by using convenience sampling technique. The objective of Study 1 was to develop WLB Scale items, they carried out a preliminary investigation to determine the internal consistency reliability and the construct validity of the WLB Scale through exploratory factor analysis. The sample was full-time workers from Usak, Turkey. The authors used SPSS (v.17) and AMOS (v.21) to conduct statistical analyzes. Besides, CFA was carried out to validate the WLB scale with the sample from the second study. The new WLB scale showed good reliability and validity. Finally, the findings showed that WLB fully mediated the relationship of work-family conflict and family-work conflict towards life satisfaction. There is a positive and significant correlation relationship between WLB and life satisfaction.. Page 28 of 140.

(47) Job stress, Work-Life Balance and Life Satisfaction Among Hotel Employees: Proactive Coping as a Moderator.. In addition, this research found that the relationship between work-life conflict, family-work conflict, WLB and life satisfaction did not differ by gender.. 2.2.5 Model 5: Effect of occupational stress on personal and professional life of bank employees in Bangladesh: Do coping strategies matter Figure 2. 5: Conceptual Framework of Ukil and Ullah (2016) Coping Strategies Life Satisfaction Work-Life Balance. Occupational Stress. Job Performance. Job Satisfaction. Source: Ukil, M. I., & Ullah, M. S. (2016). Ukil and Ullah (2016) investigated the impact of occupational stress on life satisfaction, WLB, job performance and job satisfaction and also analyze the moderating effect of coping strategies in these relationships. The survey was conducted in 20 branches of 15 different private commercial banks in Bangladesh. Total 236 out of 300 questionnaires had been successfully collected back which consisted of 204 complete responses were then taken into account for data analysis. Version 20.0 of SPSS software is used to conduct statistical analyzes. The finding indicated that occupational stress brings negative impact to life satisfaction, WLB, job performance and job satisfaction. Besides this, coping strategies had been proved in this study which it moderates the relationship of occupational stress and life satisfaction or WLB; however, there was no moderating effect on the relationship between occupational stress and job performance or job satisfaction.. Page 29 of 140.